A Good Personal Statement and a Frenzy of Violations (Ep. 318)

Thinking LSAT

Nathan Fox and Ben Olson

Education

4.8 • 868 Ratings

🗓️ 4 October 2021

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Watch Episode 318 on YouTube

Ben and Nathan have read a lot of shoddy personal statements on the show in recent weeks. If you’re wondering what a really good one sounds like, you don’t want to miss today’s first submission—one that actually follows the guys’ advice. The best personal statement in weeks is followed by a frenzy of violations. But first, the guys tackle a Parallel Reasoning question from PrepTest 73 and dispel a myth about diagramming arguments on the LSAT.

First, Nathan reiterates the pearl of LR advice from episode 317: Mentally blur out the question and answer choices as you read the passage. Focus on one sentence at a time, and make sure you actually understand it.

The first sentence is an if-then statement. Does that mean you should write it out with symbols and arrows and diagram the contrapositive? No! Doing that is counterproductive. Instead, just think about what the sentence means. Ben puts it simply: Either Suarez or Anderson is the most qualified.

Halfway through the next sentence, Ben predicts what the argument can logically conclude. The conclusion matches his prediction, so the argument is valid. That is, the evidence forces the conclusion to be true.

The question asks for a parallel argument. The given argument is valid, so the correct answer must be valid as well. Nathan describes the type of argument he’s looking for as, roughly, “It’s gotta be one of these two things. So, if it’s not this one, it’s that one.” Answer B is a perfect match.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The following podcast uses words that lawyers don't use in court, even though they're thinking them.
0:07.0	Hello and welcome to episode 318 of the Thinking El-Sat
0:17.0	podcast. Today on the show we talked about a logical reasoning
0:21.3	question. We had a parallel reasoning question to lead off. Yeah. And then we did a whole bunch of personal statements, including one that was really, really good. Yeah. And then some that were funny. But in any case, thanks for submitting your
0:37.2	statement to the show to be demolished. This will air on Monday, October 4th,
0:41.8	2021.
0:43.4	The January L-SAT registration deadline
0:46.8	is, well, not for a couple months.
0:50.0	It's December 3rd, so you got some time.
0:53.6	After that, yeah, well, actually before that,
0:56.9	you have the October El-Set and the November El-Sat.
1:00.6	If you haven't already joined Nathan's October 2021,
1:04.0	El-S-S study group, please do.
1:06.0	It's Thursdays at 4 PM Pacific, 7 PM Eastern.
1:09.0	All you need is a demon-free account,
1:12.0	and Nathan will commit you to studying at least a little
1:15.2	bit every day. It's a great way to get the bottom. Yeah, just a little weekly check in to see what kind of progress you're making.
1:23.2	As the October test approaches,
1:26.4	we'll talk a little bit more specifically
1:28.2	about things like, you know, should I actually take it
1:31.4	or should I withdraw. But we also just do kind of an open-ended
1:36.3	Q&A so whether you're taking the October 2021 test or not you're still more than
	...

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